Demystifying AI: My AI journey as a non-technical professional
My first actual introduction to AI was with GPT-3 in 2021, right after COVID-19. In Nigeria, it coincidentally happened to be around the time 5G was being introduced and facing significant backlash. There was a widespread, yet mistaken, association between 5G technology and AI. I quickly realized that they do not correlate and that 5G technology itself is not directly AI-powered. However, 5G’s high speed, low latency, and massive connectivity capabilities make it an ideal platform for supporting AI applications. I remember thinking it seemed too good to be true and that it might just be another Google+, Google Glass, or Pokémon Go — either discontinued or shut down after the initial hype and buzz died down and user engagement dwindled. But I was wrong. At the time, I couldn’t fully grasp what AI would become or the impact it would have. It felt like magic — geeky people creating things for fellow geeks. I wasn’t particularly interested.
Fast forward to 2022, I was working in the Nigerian finance space as a project management lead, which meant I had to oversee people, projects, and processes — a lot of each. Much of the work I was doing was at pilot stages, either never done before or still in the early phases of implementation. This meant I had to figure out many things on my own. There were no manuals, and even if there were, I wasn’t known for following existing blueprints that hadn’t proven effective. I had a lot to learn, and this was when I decided to give generative AI another chance. I’m using the term generative AI now because, by this time, it had been over a year since GPT launched, and the buzz was growing stronger. I had watched videos on social media and heard people talk about how it made their work faster, better, and ultimately easier (though using AI for work still felt somewhat taboo, like cheating, so we used it stealthily). There was also more than just GPT-3; there were Jasper.ai, Rytr, Stable Diffusion, and many popular apps and platforms I used integrating AI features into their products. I realized that by intentionally avoiding AI, I was doing a great disservice to myself and my job. This time, I sought help — not from someone, but from something smarter, faster, and more efficient: Generative AI.
Looking back now, I’m not entirely sure why it took me so long to adapt, given that I’m usually an early adopter of technology trends. Maybe I just couldn’t accept that we had finally entered the realm of technology that many had warned would mark the end of mankind. After what felt like a long and unnecessary denial period, I started using these generative AI tools, and my work has never been the same since — in the best way possible.
Now to my main reason for this article: As a non-technical, non-geeky professional, I can imagine that there are millions of people like me out there who still think AI is just a buzzword. Some may even believe that this hype will eventually fade away, replaced by the next shiny new trend that the world will again rave over (I thought so too, so I understand). But let me break it to you: AI is here to stay. The integration of Artificial Intelligence and automation into various aspects of our daily lives, helping us function better as humans, is something we should slowly start to embrace more positively.
This article series is supposed to be AI & Tech 101, and so in subsequent posts, I’ll be breaking down complex AI concepts into simple terms. We’ll explore how AI is transforming our lives and how we can leverage it to our advantage. No jargon, no overwhelming information — just a straightforward explanation of AI, made as easy as A-B-C.
Full disclosure: My laptop battery is low as I write this so I have to stop here. This article is long overdue, and I’m determined to conquer procrastination! So, consider this a victory against procrastination as I excitedly post this on the same day I’m writing it.
